Government senator rebukes public defender's report on detainees under SOE

Livern Barrett, Parliamentary Reporter

A report by Public Defender Arlene Harrison-Henry lamenting the conditions for persons detained in the State of Public Emergency in St James has been dismissed by Government Senator Matthew Samuda as alarmist and conflated.

Samuda, who was making his contribution to the State of the Nation debate in the Senate, said the report "leads us down a wrong road."

Seeking to support his assertion, Samuda said he is aware of a report in the Office of the Public Defender that speaks to the same conditions highlighted by Harrison-Henry.

"So this report has nothing to do with the state of emergency. It has nothing to do with what we are doing to save the lives of our people," he said.

Since the start of the year, 91 persons have been killed in St James, down from the 294 murders that were recorded over the corresponding period last year.

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